Till Death Do Us Part
by James Firebrand
Summary: Death is the one enemy we all must succumb to one day. However, life's one absolute, love, is more than enough to tie people together through time, space and even death. Rated for underage drinking, suicide, character death and violence. JoshuaXRhyme
1. The End

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own The World Ends With You OR the lyrics to I Will Follow You Into the Dark. **

**(If I did, IWFYITD would probably be a Death Metal song. Get it? Death?)**

**Shirley: Enough with the lame puns and get to work on killing off major characters!**

**JF: But I like lame puns....**

**Shirley: YOU'RE gonna be lame if you don't shut up and get on with it!**

**JF: Fine, fine, *sigh* Can I at least do my A/N first?**

**Shirley:Make it snappy...**

**Chapter 1: The End**

**This idea is a recently new one, but one that I really like! I'm not 100% how well it will turn out, but I'm gonna give it my very best shot and see what happens! I know writing fics like these isn't exactly my_ forte _but I feel like it's one of those stories that NEED to be told. If for nobody but myself. So, without further ado, here we go!**

* * *

Rhyme stared at the ashen haired boy in front of her, her eyes filled with tears.

"You just don't get it, do you Joshua?!" She shouted, her voice quivering.

"If you truly love someone, you just don't treat them like everybody else!"

Joshua didn't reply. He stood with his back to her, leaning against the jukebox in the Dead Gods Pad, punching aimlessly at the buttons on the music players console. One arm was draped over the top of the jukebox, a tumbler of vodka hanging from his fingertips.

"That's your problem, Joshua!" Rhyme continued, tears streaming down her face. "You're a schemer, a manipulator. To you, everybody's equal, expendable. Nothing but cogs in the machine of your great plans! If you really do love me, you can't just treat me like some tool!"

Rhyme continued to stare at the back of her lover. Joshua hadn't made a move during her impassioned speech, except to take a drink from the glass in his hand.

Rhyme's eyes filled with even more tears and she began to sob.

She quickly began to fumble with the brooch on her shirt, an orange squirrel, made entirely of jewels, given to her by Joshua when they had first started dating.

Despite her tear-filled eyes, she managed to get the brooch off and hurled it onto the nearby table.

"I hate you." She whispered loudly, before turning and running from the Reaper headquarters, the falling tears forming a trail behind her.

Joshua still hadn't moved from where he stood, even when he heard the door slam. He remained motionless for several minutes before, in a sudden burst of energy, he spun and hurled the glass at the wall where it shattered.

Joshua gave one last aimless stab at the jukebox's control panel, before walking over to the couch and collapsing on it. He leaned back, his hands over his face.

He remained like that for several seconds before letting his arms fall limply to his sides.

He opened his ears to the Music, listening to all the emotions and thoughts of the teeming masses of Shibuya, only vaguely listening to the song being played from the jukebox speakers.

_Love of mine,  
Someday you will die,  
But I'll be close behind,  
I'll follow you  
into the dark_

Suddenly, Joshua's eyes snapped open. It was only a whisper, but one of the voices that sounded in his head roared louder than any he had ever heard.

**...cold...**

_Rhyme?_

**...so cold....it hurts...Please, Joshua, help, please, I'm so cold...**

Joshua was off the couch and out the door in a heartbeat. He raced down the Trail of the Sinner and emerged into southern Shibuya in a matter of seconds. It was snowing heavily, and he had no coat or gear on, but he took no notice of the bitter cold. He cast about desperately in the Music, searching for Rhyme's signature. He located it and rushed off. Swarms of Noise rose in his path, attracted by his panic and fear, but he blasted them into oblivion, not even noticing them.

The nearer he got to Rhyme it seemed, the more her presence faded, like a lightbulb being turned off after it had been on for a while. He looked about wildly, searching for her. Suddenly. he spotted a small bundle half buried in a snowdrift. Joshua hurried over and tore through the snow like a madman, eventually uncovering Rhymes huddled form.

Her frail body was shivering pathetically, and she was covered in still freshly bleeding cuts and bruises. One eye was swollen shut.

For a split second, Joshua was frozen. _What could have done this to her?_ He wondered blankly.

Then Rhyme stirred. "Joshua?" She mewled, and Joshua was galvanized into action.

"Don't talk." He said shortly as he brushed the snow away from her.

"I-I'm sorry..." She whispered.

Joshua ignored her, wrapping Rhyme in his arms, trying to get her warm as he pumped healing energy into her body, but it was too little, too late.

Joshua struggled to remain calm, fighting the urge to panic.

_It's ok,_ He thought, desperately trying to keep the fear at bay. _If she dies, she'll enter the Game, she'll actually be safer there, I'm the Composer so I can protect her and make sure nothing happens to--wait a minute..._

Joshua's eyes widened in horror. Rhyme wasn't being taken to the UG, she was being Erased. The word 'why' had barely flashed through his brain before the cold knife of realization stabbed into his gut.

When Rhyme had came to the Dead Gods Pad earlier, Joshua had elevated her vibe so she could enter, but he had neglected to reduce it when she had left. This left her stranded in the UG, without a partner. All the sorrow and fear she was experiencing had drawn Noise to her which had attacked her mercilessly, only the influence of Joshua's mental probe of the Music had driven them from her.

"Joshua..." Rhyme shivered. "I'm so...cold..."

_She's fading faster and faster! _Joshua's mind thrashed about for a solution, but none came to mind. There was absolutely no time.

Rhyme's eyes began to glaze over as Joshua tucked her head underneath his chin.

"No matter where, when or how," He whispered. "Until the stars turn cold and the last dream dies, until we are a heartbeat away from eternity, our souls shall know no rest until we are one once more."

Joshua's body suddenly began to grow cold too, and his mind grew dim.

_Wait for me, Rhyme... _That last thought had barely pierced through the fog of his mind before her lifeless body slumped to the snow, followed a split second later by his own.

In the cold night, nobody was around to notice the twin trails of shimmering static reaching up from an obscure snowdrift, towards the sky.

* * *

**And there you have it! I originally wasn't intending for this to be a song-fic, but the song fit so perfectly, I couldn't resist putting it in. In case anyones curious the song is called 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark' by Death Cab for Cutie.**

**Major thanks to Jestry for Beta Reading this chapter for me! If not for your help, I doubt this chapter would've been half as good as what it is now!**


	2. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own The World Ends With You OR the lyrics to I Will Follow You Into the Dark**

**Chapter 5: The Beginning**

***sighs* Alright, here's the deal. I started this fic several years ago on a premise: that after Joshua and Rhyme died, they would be reincarnated over and over again, losing their memory each time, but always finding each other again. While a good idea, I couldn't come up with any decent ideas for subsequent chapters detailing their search for each other across space and time.**

**Eventually I dropped the project altogether, although I did come up with an ending. While I showed it to a few interested parties in the past, I never uploaded it. Until now. This was going to be the fifth and final chapter of 'Till Death Do Us Part. As things stand however, I've decided to post it merely for completion and posterities sake.**

**I sincerely hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Joshua winced and squeezed his eyes shut. The only thing that hurt worse than the pavement digging into his cheek was the light shining into his eyes.

Wait a second...pavement?

The ashen-haired boy opened his eyes. He was lying in what appeared to be a busy street. And a puddle of his own drool. He sat up and looked around blearily. Swarms of people strolled around him, not paying him the least bit of attention.

He frowned. Were unconscious teens in the middle of the street really that common around here?

As he looked around, a half-groaning, half-whimpering noise caught his ear. He turned to see an orange bundle lying on the ground several feet away from him. For some reason, the sight stirred a nameless terror in his heart.

Desperate for reasons he didn't quite understand, he lept to his feet and sprinted over to the bundle, falling to his knees next to it.

It was a girl a few years younger than himself, with straw-blonde hair and a black knit cap jammed down over it. She lay curled up on the pavement, her soft eyelashes forming dark cresents against her pale skin.

"Hey!" He called urgently, shaking her shoulder. "Are you OK?"

She didn't respond.

The fear in his heart started to grow.

"Are you all right? Rhyme!"

The girl opened her eyes and peered up at Joshua curiously. "H-how do you know my name, Joshua?" She asked, confused.

Joshua frowned. "I-I don't know...How do you know my name?"

"I don't know..." Rhyme was sitting up by now, her big blue eyes locked with Joshua's shockingly violet ones.

"Have we met?" Rhyme asked curiously as they simultaneously got to their feet, keeping their gaze locked on each other.

"I don't think so..." Joshua replied, feeling confused and...something else. Something he couldn't quite name.

_What is this?_ He wondered. _Who is she?_

The beeping of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts.

Without taking his gaze from the young girl in front of him, Joshua pulled his cell phone out and flipped it open.

"Reach 104." He read aloud. "You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure."

At that instant, a lancing pain seared both their palms. When both looked down, they found a timer had been tattooed onto their hands, counting down.

Joshua and Rhyme looked from their palms, to the form of 104 rising in the distance, to each other. Without a word, both turned and sprinted off in the direction of the skyscraper.

As they ran, neither heard the music being played from the speakers of a nearby store.

_If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied  
__And illuminate the 'No's' on their Vacancy signs  
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks  
Then I will follow you into the dark..._

* * *

******I still like the idea behind this fic and I'd love to come back to it someday and actually complete it, but as it stands, I still don't have any new ideas and I frankly don't have the time to devote to it.**

**I would like to dedicate this fic to Divine Wolfe, or whatever she's calling herself these days. All throughout my struggle when I was trying to come up with ideas for this fic, she never once doubted me and never stopped cheering me on, even going so far as to write a fic just to encourage me. **

**Thank you so much for believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. *bows***


End file.
